I'm running a (vintage!) Athlon 2500+ with 2GB RAM, and have finally decided that it's time to buy myself a new desktop. I don't have the time (or desire) to spend a month researching components, so I'm just going to go out and buy a prebuilt system. I could buy a cheapy full of generic parts, but I'm not going to. What is your opinion on this: $1199 AUD - Intel Core i5 760 - Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Motherboard - Corsair CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 4GB (2x 2Gb) (1333MHz) - Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB 7200RPM Hard Drive - ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB (HIS) - 24x Internal DVD±RW Drive - Zalman Z7 Plus Mid Tower Case Black - Antec Neo 520W Power Supply - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
Don't do it! Well, not if you are going to try to run WindowsXP programs on it, that is. Minimum requirement on the OS to run XP programs in 'xp mode' is Windows 7 Professional.
I've decided to STOP, think about it for 5 minutes, and build it myself. I'm aiming for a VERY quiet computer, that I can use for coding, and occasional Photoshop/InDesign/After Effects work (no gaming, no 3D). Here's the new shopping list: Case: Fractal Design Define R3 CPU: Intel Core i5 760 HSF: Scythe Mugen 2 Cooler Rev B MOBO: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 PSU: Seasonic X-400 (fanless) GPU: HIS ATI Radeon HD5450 Silence 1GB (fanless) RAM: 8GB Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 (2x4GB) DDR3 HDD: A quiet 1TB 7200... still to be decided @mcfox - I'll probably dual boot Windows 7 Ultimate and Linux Mint. Thankfully I came to my senses before jumping into buying a prebuilt system with a bundled version of Home Premium.
Glad to hear you're going for the self build. I too, went for a quiet pc build. What a huge difference it makes not having that helicopter coming in for a landing! I found this website incredibly useful and I think they supply your part of the world too. I went for the Noctua cooling fan and the Nesteq E2CS X-Strike 600W Ultra-Quiet PSU but I'm thinking a fanless PSU must be quieter than that. Protip: sort out the cooling fan mounts before you put the m/b in *cough*
I'm puzzled why you never considered a mac. For coding, Photoshop, InDesign and After Effects, mac is your best candidate. Get an iMac. Its as quiet as it can be. Minus all the wires that messes up your table.
Delivered! I bit the bullet and went for an SSD and fanless PSU. Fractal Design Define R3 i5 760 CM Hyper 212 Plus + Nexus Real Silent PWM Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 8GB Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 Seasonic X-460 PSU (fanless) HIS HD5450 Silence (fanless) OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD SpinPoint F3 1TB HDD Can't wait to put it all together. Well.. actually I can. And will.
All done. Currently setting up Windows 7, and migrating all my junk over to the new drives. Glad I went with an SSD. Pity I can't (won't) use TrueCrypt full disk encryption on it though... but I'm sure I'll work something out. The R3 cable management is a winner. I've got it running 1 very slow exhaust fan, and 1 very slow CPU fan, it's Q.U.I.E.T
I've got the Hyper 212 plus too! However, you do know that it can work in push-pull configuration right? I've got a Noctua NF-P12 working with the stock fan running atm.